Eyes

Harbour Surgical Institute, Inc.

Procedures & Services

Cataracts

Ophthalmology Services

Lasik®

LASIK is a surgical procedure intended to reduce a person's dependency on glasses or contact lenses.

LASIK stands for Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis and is a procedure that permanently changes the shape of the cornea, the clear covering of the front of the eye, using an excimer laser. A knife, called a microkeratome, is used to cut a flap in the cornea. A hinge is left at one end of this flap. The flap is folded back revealing the stroma, the middle section of the cornea. Pulses from a computer-controlled laser vaporize a portion of the stroma and the flap is replaced. There are other techniques and many new terms related to LASIK that you may hear about.

The illustration / movie above shows the left eye at an angle with the corneal flap laid open. A smaller frame shows the eye in cross section with the eye cut in half from front to back in the horizontal plane and you were looking at the inside. The illustration also shows a laser beam in the center of the eye removing corneal tissue.

The first frame of the animation shows the eye at an angle with the speculum holding the eyelids open. Next, the illustration shows where the incision will be made to create the round corneal flap. The next frame shows the suction ring of the microkeratome being placed on top of the eye encircling the cornea.

The eye with the suction ring in place is then shown in cross section with the eye cut in half from front to back in the horizontal plane. The suction ring is also cut in half. The next frame shows the microkeratome head sliding into place over the cornea slightly flattening it. The animation shows the microkeratome blade making a thin slice in the cornea creating the flap as the microkeratome head continues to move forward. The microkeratome head then slides back into its original position.

The next frame illustrates the corneal flap being lifted and folded back over on its hinge.

The next illustration shows the eye at an angle with the corneal flap laid open. In a smaller frame, there is a cross section of the eye with the eye cut in half from front to back in the horizontal plane. The next frame depicts a laser beam reshaping the cornea by removing corneal tissue. The final frame shows the corneal flap being laid back into position.

Courtesy of fda.gov